Source: New Zealand Minerals Council
A new survey shows considerable support for mining, says New Zealand Minerals Council Chief Executive Josie Vidal, and people are even more supportive when they learn the value of mining to the economy and the environmental measures taken by miners. (ref. https://mineralscouncil.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Mining-issues-survey-results-2026.pdf )
“Our sense was that as discussions about New Zealand’s future cover questions around energy generation, technology development, the cost of living and creating jobs, more people understand the value of mining,” Vidal says.
“But we wanted to test that. Curia Market Research ran a survey for us covering the general voting age population, as well as focusing on additional surveying in Waihi and the West Coast of the South Island.”
The survey showed:
– 72% of New Zealanders think mining is very or somewhat important to New Zealand’s economy. In Waihi it is 81% and on the West Coast, 89%.
– 43% view mining favourably and 22% negatively, for a net favourability of +21%. 32% were neutral. In Waihi 72% viewed favourably and 13% negatively. On the West Coast 83% viewed favourably and 5% negatively.
– When asked if wine exports were greater than mining, 20% more respondents incorrectly thought wine had greater export earnings that mining.
– When asked if they would prefer New Zealand to mine its own minerals or import them, the baseline of 58% would prefer New Zealand to mine and 14% to import them. When given more information about the environmental and employment standards in New Zealand mines, 71% said they would prefer New Zealand to mine its own minerals and 12% said they would prefer to import them.
– 65% had heard of the fast-track approvals law, with a baseline of net +24% support in New Zealand, in Waihi it is net +42% and on the West Coast net +66%. After explanation of the intent of the law net support rose to +35%.
– 60% say they trust mining companies to comply with environmental conditions as part of their resource consent and 30% have not very much or any trust. In Waihi it is 81% and 19% and the West Coast 76% and 22% respectively.
“We wanted to find out where the public have concerns,” Vidal says. “Perception is reality in mining and we need to know what we should be talking about and where we can improve trust or just have conversations that need to be had.
“The survey found the greatest concerns were profits going overseas, impact on biodiversity, and destruction of conservation land.
“The proportions saying something would somewhat or greatly influence their support of mining included seeing local economic benefits (70%), more local employment (69%), renewable energy transition (69%) and transparent site rehabilitation (68%).
“This is valuable information for us. Some profits going overseas is the norm in industries where companies have shareholders all over the world, as well as in New Zealand. Mining is not unusual and considerable economic benefits are provided to local communities in the payment of wages and local spending. We can see from the survey figures that where there is mining – in Waihi and the West Coast – people see the value that is going into their communities.
“Miners pay significant rates and mining companies contribute more than $3 million per year in voluntary community sponsorship for the likes of healthcare, schools, charities, community assets, sports, community groups, marae, and conservation projects.
“Mining in New Zealand has very strong guard rails with strict environmental standards. We need to show more about how mines keep to those standards and the rehabilitation work that is done, but often the sites are quite remote, so people don’t get to see that every day.
“Overall, it is good to see an understanding of the value of mining in New Zealand and support for it to continue,” Vidal says.